An antibody targeting ICOS increases intratumoral cytotoxic to regulatory T cell ratio and induces tumor regression
Spotlight (1) Sainson RCA (2) Thotakura AK (3) Kosmac M (4) Borhis G (5) Parveen N (6) Kimber R (7) Carvalho J (8) Henderson SJ (9) Pryke KL (10) Okell T (11) O'Leary S (12) Ball S (13) Van Krinks C (14) Gamand L (15) Taggart E (16) Pring EJ (17) Ali H (18) Craig H (19) Wong VWY (20) Liang Q (21) Rowlands RJ (22) Lecointre M (23) Campbell J (24) Kirby I (25) Melvin D (26) Germaschewski V (27) Oelmann E (28) Quaratino S (29) McCourt M
Using TCGA datasets, scRNAseq, and immunostaining, Sainson and Thotakura et al. showed that ICOS expression in tumor-bearing mice and patients with cancers was highest on intratumoral Tregs. An ICOS-specific human monoclonal IgG1 made in Icos-/- transgenic mice bound human, monkey, rat, and mouse ICOS, killed ICOShi T cells via ADCC, and induced IFNγ and TNFα secretion by ICOSlo TEFF cells in human cells in vitro. Anti-ICOS IgG1 treatment of monkeys or mice (reformatted as a murine IgG2a) depleted ICOShi T cells, and in syngeneic mouse models, blocked lymphoma growth, improved anti-PD-L1 efficacy in models of solid tumor, and increased the intratumoral TEFF:Treg ratio.
Contributed by Paula Hochman
(1) Sainson RCA (2) Thotakura AK (3) Kosmac M (4) Borhis G (5) Parveen N (6) Kimber R (7) Carvalho J (8) Henderson SJ (9) Pryke KL (10) Okell T (11) O'Leary S (12) Ball S (13) Van Krinks C (14) Gamand L (15) Taggart E (16) Pring EJ (17) Ali H (18) Craig H (19) Wong VWY (20) Liang Q (21) Rowlands RJ (22) Lecointre M (23) Campbell J (24) Kirby I (25) Melvin D (26) Germaschewski V (27) Oelmann E (28) Quaratino S (29) McCourt M
Using TCGA datasets, scRNAseq, and immunostaining, Sainson and Thotakura et al. showed that ICOS expression in tumor-bearing mice and patients with cancers was highest on intratumoral Tregs. An ICOS-specific human monoclonal IgG1 made in Icos-/- transgenic mice bound human, monkey, rat, and mouse ICOS, killed ICOShi T cells via ADCC, and induced IFNγ and TNFα secretion by ICOSlo TEFF cells in human cells in vitro. Anti-ICOS IgG1 treatment of monkeys or mice (reformatted as a murine IgG2a) depleted ICOShi T cells, and in syngeneic mouse models, blocked lymphoma growth, improved anti-PD-L1 efficacy in models of solid tumor, and increased the intratumoral TEFF:Treg ratio.
Contributed by Paula Hochman
ABSTRACT: The immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment constitutes a significant hurdle to immune checkpoint inhibitor responses. Both soluble factors and specialised immune cells, such as regulatory T cells (TReg), are key components of active intratumoral immunosuppression. Inducible Co-Stimulatory receptor (ICOS) can be highly expressed in the tumor microenvironment, especially on immunosuppressive TReg, suggesting that it represents a relevant target for preferential depletion of these cells. Here, we performed immune profiling of samples from tumor bearing mice and cancer patients to demonstrate differential expression of ICOS in immune T cell subsets in different tissues. ICOS expression was higher on intratumoral TReg than on effector CD8 T cells. In addition, by immunizing an Icos knockout transgenic mouse line expressing antibodies with human variable domains, we selected a fully human IgG1 antibody called KY1044 that bound ICOS from different species. We showed that KY1044 induced sustained depletion of ICOShigh T cells but was also associated with increased secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines from ICOSlow TEFF cells. In syngeneic mouse tumor models, KY1044 depleted ICOShigh TReg and increased the intratumoral TEFF:TReg ratio, resulting in increased secretion of IFN_ and TNF_ by TEFF cells. KY1044 demonstrated monotherapy antitumor efficacy and improved anti-PD-L1 efficacy. In summary, we demonstrated that using KY1044, one can exploit the differential expression of ICOS on T cell subtypes to improve the intratumoral immune contexture and restore an antitumor immune response.
Author Info: (1) Translational Medicine, Kymab Ltd The Bennet Building (B930) Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, CB22 3AT, UK richard.sainson@kymab.com. (2) Immuno-Oncology, Orion Pharma. (3)
Author Info: (1) Translational Medicine, Kymab Ltd The Bennet Building (B930) Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, CB22 3AT, UK richard.sainson@kymab.com. (2) Immuno-Oncology, Orion Pharma. (3) TA IO, Kymab Ltd. (4) Immuno-Oncology, Kymab Ltd. (5) Translational Medicine, Kymab Ltd. (6) Translational Medicine, Kymab Ltd. (7) Assays and in vitro Biology, SNIPR BIOME. (8) Toxicology, Kymab Ltd. (9) Development - Non-Clinical, Kymab Ltd. (10) Kymab Ltd. (11) IDV, Kymab Ltd. (12) Kymab Ltd. (13) Translational Medicine, Kymab Ltd. (14) Translational Medicine, Kymab Ltd. (15) Immuno-oncology, Kymab Ltd. (16) Pharmacology, Kymab Ltd. (17) WT Brenner Building, Leeds Institute of Medical Research. (18) Kymab Ltd. (19) Kymab Ltd. (20) Kymab Ltd. (21) Kymab Ltd. (22) Kymab Ltd. (23) Custom Solutions EMEA, Abcam. (24) R&D, ADC therapeutics. (25) Kymab Ltd. (26) Kymab Ltd. (27) Kymab Ltd. (28) Translational Medicine, Kymab Ltd. (29) Oncology, Kymab Ltd.
Citation: Cancer Immunol Res 2020 Sep 30 Epub09/30/2020